recession, implies unemployment going up and shooting ourselves in the foot at a time when the global environment is much more difficult. see what is happening in europe, in the middle east and china. secondly, we just had an election, ali. the message, one of the messages of the election was one of shared responsibility and farrer burden sharing. it's a period in which the rich have done extremely well. not just on the up side, but also in terms of being protected on the down side. >> fin finally and importantly, the economic arguments against this while they'll be valid at higher tax rates are not valid here. so if you look at the hand that president has, it is stronger than what the republicans and i think both of them will want to seek some sort of compromise. >> sounds so reasonable. let's bring stephen moore in. he is a writer at the "wall street journal." he's conservative. stephen, do you agree? are republicans ready to strike a deal with the president if it means giving up the bush tax cuts for the wealth. >> i they have dug in on this. >> i don't know, ali. i listen to this conversation